


The Girl in the Mask

by FireSoul



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 07:36:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6795061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireSoul/pseuds/FireSoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team needs to hide out in the future for awhile, but while they're there Sara and Leonard run into some very interesting young heroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Girl in the Mask

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this awhile ago so the first chapter takes place while Mick is still Kronos, the second part, however, will take place after 11x14 so he's back in part 2!

Rip hates traveling beyond the year 2016.

As he's stated many, many, many times before it is very dangerous for any member of his team to know too much about their own futures. But sometimes trips to their future are just plain inevitable and when that's the case he has ground rules:

1\. No leaving the ship for purposes unrelated to the mission.

2\. When rule number one is inevitably broken, no going anywhere your future self might go for any reason.

3\. If for whatever reason you do see your future self or the future self of anyone you know, do not attract attention to yourself.

He knows that he's probably going to have to enact some more rules eventually but for now they haven't completely destroyed the timeline with the three they have and considering some of the members of this team that's really all that he can ask for. Anyway the reason they came here to the year 2033 hasn't been so much to hunt for Savage as it is Chronos was relentlessly on their tale in the temporal zone so he exited at the nearest portal out without caring where it landed them.

"Shore leave Captain, c'mon." Mr. Snart drawled as he and many of the others, all except Professor Stein, headed out of the ship.

"No, not here." Rip tried to be stern but just as always his team ignored it.

"Rip, you're the one who always tells us that the future isn't set in stone, what are we going to break?" Dr. Palmer questioned and Rip sighed, knowing that if Leonard Snart and Raymond Palmer are on the same side of an argument then there's really no point in trying to convince them otherwise.

"Be careful," the captain stressed and Ray nodded.

"Will do," he said, an eager smile lighting up his face as if he were a child whose father had decided against grounding him when he deserved it.

"No promises," Ms. Lance said with an evil smile, before Rip could rebuttal the team was gone.  
.  
.  
.

They hadn't landed in anybody's hometown, which is probably why Rip didn't put up more of a fight when the group left the ship. The future so far was an interesting place. So far Sara had noticed that flip phones and VHS tapes looked to have made a comeback, but there was also a giant monorail suspended above the city of Keystone and the boats on the river looked more like cars with a water capability.

"There's an accident waiting to happen," Snart said, getting her attention as he looked up at the monorail.

"Probably," Sara agreed before whirling her head all around her only to see that Snart was the only other member of their team still here.

"What happened to Ray and Kendra?" She asked, remembering how they had lost Jax when they passed a hardware store and he decided to stop in and pick up some minor parts that the Waverider was going to need sooner or later.

"Raymond saw a restaurant while you were looking at the water, he decided that he better take Kendra out for a real date and they walked off." Len explained, "So I guess you're stuck with me now." He drawled and Sara smirked.

"See anywhere you want to go?" She asked him as they continued walking down the sidewalk, she hadn't seen anything that sparked her interest but she really wasn't in any rush to get back to the time ship.

"I'm hoping that a bar is still a bar in 2033," he answered.

They found a bar not too far away from the city's center. It was a little hole in the wall place, which was nice, as that made it easy to ignore the crowded streets of the city outside. They sat on two stools in the corner and ordered two drinks, and as they sat there Len glanced out the window.

"How long do you think it'll take the others to find us?" He asked,

"Not long," Sara replied as she took a sip of her drink, they both knew that it wouldn't be long before Rip became paranoid that one of them had done something stupid while out and called them all back. "You know we're not far from Central City," she suggested as her friend took a swig of his own drink.

"Interesting as that would be, I'd rather stay here." He told her,

"Why?" She asked,

"Why not?" He countered, "If there was nothing for me in Central City when I left there certainly isn't going to be anything there now."

"You don't know that," she said with a playful smile, "Assuming we survive this mission and all go back to 2016, and face it we're not going back the same people we were when we left, you could've made something of yourself." She said but Snart just shook his head.

"Like what?" He asked and his companion only shrugged.

"Only one way to find out."  
.  
.  
.

Snart had absolutely no idea why he let Sara talk him into this, although really she hadn't so much talked him into it as she had tipped his curiosity enough for him to talk himself in. He'd never say so out loud but that is one quality that he admires about her. Her ability to get inside of a person's head really is something else. He's seen people do it before; hell he's done it once or twice. But there's something about Sara's style that intrigues him. She doesn't make it seem like there's no other choice, there's always a choice with her. He could've just as easily chosen to stay in Keystone and he's confident that she wouldn't have pushed the issue. With anybody else he would say leaving the other option open is a rookie mistake, but for her it works.

They walked to Central City. They could've taken that monorail but the two cities are neighbors and they were close to the border anyway. Besides, the walk allowed for the two of them to check out what had changed in each city and what hadn't over the years. Sara had only been to Central City once, after she came back from the dead the first time (the time she wasn't actually dead) and went to visit her mom. She remembered a fair amount of details but as she walked through the future city she found that she couldn't completely distinguish the old from the new. On the contrary Len knew this city like the back of his hand and knew exactly what had and hadn't been here the last time he was. The city hadn't changed all that much in the past seventeen years, sure there was a new building here and there and one missing somewhere but for the most pat it seemed to have just been upgraded with the times. The fact that the city had mostly stayed the same didn't really surprise him, so he was half expecting it when a streak of yellow lightning zoomed by him and Sara.

"What was that?" Sara asked and Len frowned, the last thing he needed was to be seen by the future version of Barry Allen. More specifically the last things he needed was the future version of Barry Allen getting all smug and assuming he had gone good thanks to Rip's mission, which he hasn't.

"Not something we need to get involved with," he drawled but just then a second streak flew past them, something Len did not expect.

She couldn't be sure if Len heard it but when the second streak passed by Sara was sure she heard something akin to a scream.

"Come on," she said before heading quickly in the direction the two flashes had gone, Len rolled his eyes before following her, he was SO going to regret this.  
.  
.  
.

They didn't have to go far, in fact they only had to go as far as Central City Park where there was a giant and obviously unnatural rainbow stemming from the ground with a man in a black suit standing atop it. The people in the park were running around like crazy, some shouting that they had gone blind. This made it hard for the two speedsters to evacuate the pedestrians, as they were panicked enough already and suddenly being zoomed off at super speed didn't help anything. As he and Sara drew closer Len noticed that neither of these speedsters was the Flash he knew back in 2016. They never stopped long enough for him to pick up the details but they looked younger, not to mention that they're suits were purple. There was one way, however, to tell them apart even as they sped around the park. Only one of them had a mask that went over his head like Barry's and unlike the rest of his suit it was white. The other only wore a white eye-mask.

While Snart studied the two speedsters Sara focused more heavily on the man atop the rainbow, or more specifically the girl he was fighting. Her outfit, while it appeared to be made out of the same material as that of the two speedster's, was a lot more casual looking. She wore black leggings and an icy blue sweatshirt with the hood up and matching mask. Somehow her white utility belt stayed secured to the leggings as she fought against the man but that wasn't what had drawn Sara's attention to her, no what had drawn her attention was the fact that the girl fought with a very familiar Bo Staff.

"Should we help them?" Snart's question interrupted her thoughts, and only when he asked with total seriousness did she realize that the girl she had been watching for so long was losing her battle.

She nodded her reply and without another word the two headed into the heat of the battle. They had brought they're respective weapons with them, of course, they knew better by now than to leave the ship without them. They headed straight for the rainbow but it disappeared before they got there and the black suited man landed with a thud on the ground and the girl on top of him, pinning him down, so maybe she hadn't been losing.

"I could use a little help here!" She called over her shoulder as her captive struggled beneath her. Now that they were closer Sara could see that the girl was only about high school aged and although athletically built she was pretty small, so although she was pinning her much larger opponent expertly it would only be a matter of time before he was able to shake her off.

"Allow me," Snart replied just before he iced the man on the ground, not enough to kill him but enough to knock him out.

The girl looked up at him and blinked rapidly beneath her mask, her mouth hanging open ever so slightly.

"You got something to say kid?" He asked her in his usual icy tone, the girl had only just begun to stutter when her two speedster friends skidded to a stop next to her.

"Uncle Len?" The boy asked, Len could now see that the one with only an eye-mask was a girl but he hardly took notice, he was too focused on what the boy said.

"What?" He managed to say; next to him Sara's eyes were wide with a mix of shock and amusement.

The eyes of the three teenagers grew wide upon hearing the older man's reaction,

"Oh… uh… let me guess, you're with Rip Hunter aren't you?" The boy asked awkwardly, Len nodded.

"Oh uh… ok then we'll just be getting Rainbow Raider down to his usual cell and-" but the boy and the girl who Len could only assume was his sister were gone and so was the man in the black suit.

"They leave you behind like this a lot?" Sara asked the girl in the hood with a smirk,

"They'll be back," the girl replied surely

"You want to tell me what that was about?" Len demanded of the girl who looked slightly panicked by the question, but lucky for her the speeding boy returned just at that moment.

"Gotta go," she said quickly and almost nervously before climbing onto the boy's back and the two sped away, Sara heard a squeal just as they went and concluded that was the scream she had heard before.

For a minute Len just stood there, completely stunned. Sara made no move to snap him out of it either; she let him stand there as what that boy had said sank in.

"Come on," he finally said, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her along.

"Where are we going?" She asked, normally if someone grabbed her wrist suddenly and started pulling her along she would've flipped them over her shoulder, but judging by Snart's very light grip he was well aware of this and so she let it slide and just followed.

"To find that kid."  
.  
.  
.

"So I've been in charge of you three for two hours and you might have broken the timeline?!" Cisco exclaimed when the three teenagers returned to STAR labs and told him about their mission. Iris had left town for a business trip just two hours ago, and only a half hour later a certain blonde teenager showed up at the lab with a backpack saying that her parents had to leave for some emergency mission with Oliver, which he knew about since Wally and Caitlin were called too. He asked why she didn't go with them and she said that she tried but they insisted she crash Don and Dawn's weekend with Uncle Cisco, besides she knows that if she's needed they'll call.

"Technically you've only been in charge of me for an hour and half," The blonde pointed out and Cisco glared at her, which was about as intimidating as an angry puppy but she didn't keep taunting.

"Relax, I called him Uncle Len so he probably thinks I'm Aunt Lisa's son." Don said, his mask no longer on his face, revealing his dark brown hair and eyes that are so much like Barry's.

"How is that any better?" Cisco asked in exasperation, normally he isn't one to shout but every time they mess with time it's bad; so the idea of messing with time while he's the adult in charge is bad with more bad piled on top. It doesn't matter that he's now forty-two years old, that he's married, or even that he's a parent himself. That last thing being something he has no intentions of telling the past Leonard Snart if it can be avoided. Bottom line is that he's never really grown up and put three teenagers who can pretty much look after themselves in his care is one thing, drop in a time traveling former assassin and not yet ex-thief is a whole other thing.

"It's not," The blonde girl said again as she took off her hood and mask, intertwining her fingers with Don's. "But I kept my mouth shut, and I don't think they could make out my features through my mask and hood. It could've been worse," she said and Cisco let out a sigh, he opened his mouth to say something but he didn't get the chance before a voice down the hall interrupted.

"Allen?" It called and Cisco recognized it immediately, and he knew that it wasn't the present Leonard Snart.

Sure enough a past version of Len came marching into the room with Sara Lance behind him, also a past version. Upon hearing Len's voice the three teenagers rushed to replace their masks and just barely managed to do so as the two adults strode into the room.

"Oh… Hey Le-Snart." Cisco said, quickly remembering that when they were younger he called Len by his last name.

"Ramon," Snart replied dryly, barely acknowledging he and Cisco were now about the same age. "Anybody care to tell me what's going on here?" He asked,

"Well uh that depends as to what it is you're talking about," Cisco said awkwardly, stepping somewhat casually, or what he thought was casual, in front of the three kids as if that could somehow shield their identities.

"Ramon one of your little buddies back there seems to think I'm his Uncle, can you just tell me where he would get that idea?" He questioned, not really in the mood to deal with all the timeline crap.

"Well you're not really my Uncle," the boy in question said from behind Cisco, prompting the older man to sigh in defeat and step aside. "We call you our Uncle just like we call Cisco our Uncle, and Caitlin our Aunt." He continued, gesturing with his free hand between himself and the second speedster but conveniently skipping over the other girl whose hand he held.

Before Snart could say anything to this an alarm started blaring throughout the lab, and Cisco quickly thanked the lord above for the occurrence, until he got to the monitors and realized what the alarm was for.

"Guys, Grundy's downtown." He said in alarm,

"On it," came the rushed reply from the girl who neither Sara nor Len had yet figured out.

"Are you sure?" Cisco asked as the teen who had responded hopped onto her boyfriend's back, "Grundy can be kind of a handful,"

"We've got it." Don assured and with that the three of them sped off.  
.  
.  
.

"We've got it." That kid had said but from what Len was seeing the answer is no, no they didn't.

While they were gone he had persuaded Ramon to tell him exactly who these kids were and why they felt close enough to him to call him their Uncle. At first persuasion nearly failed but after all the time he's spent on a time ship from the next century he knows enough to look up files on a state of the art computer in 2033. He actually got to the files on Allen's kids, which prompted Cisco to start talking. Their names are Don and Dawn, and somehow the fact that Barry gave his twin children the same name surprised the man who had almost no faith in him to begin with. When he asked about Barry, Cisco grew solemn and admitted that he had disappeared nine years ago. He hadn't been trying to run through time but that's what they think happened and whenever he landed, he's stuck. He said that when Barry first disappeared his brother-in-law, Wally, took up the mantel of the Flash and today was off in Star City helping Oliver. Allen's kids call themselves The Tornado Twins, and their friend calls herself Blue Bird, though he wouldn't give up her real name.

Len was considering scaring it out of him, when Dawn raced in carrying her half dead looking brother. Don was beat up badly and his sister out of breathe.

"Grundy was going for…" She trailed off as she panted while Sara and Cisco took Don's limp form from her and half carried, half dragged him over to the cot in the back of the lab.

"Blue Bird, Blue Bird!" Cisco called over his shoulder, reminding the panicked girl to use her friend's code name.

"Blue Bird," she nodded, "Do-" she stopped herself, then mentally cursed that she and her brother were still yet to think of separate code names.

"Don," Len supplied and she looked at him in surprise, "While you were gone I motivated Ramon into telling us your names, all except for your friend's that is." He explained and she nodded.

"He pushed her out of the way, Grundy was a little angrier than usual today and beat him senseless." She finished explaining as she finally caught her breath, Cisco returning while Sara patched up Don.

"Did you leave her alone?" Cisco demanded, the kids are still fairly new at this but he hoped that Dawn would have the sense not to leave Blue Bird alone against Grundy for longer than a few seconds.

"No," the female speedster replied, "We took him out before I ran back here, she's on her way." She replied and Cisco nodded, mentally reminding himself that they need to find a way for Blue Bird to keep up with the twins without Don piggybacking her.

"I thought you were a speedster, why so out of breath?" Len asked the girl who looked back to him with a deadpan glare.

"Fast, not strong." She replied and that was when the sound of footsteps hurrying down the corridor could be heard and not a moment later Blue Bird ran through with speed arguably on par with her friends'.

She raced over to the back, not caring about the tears stinging her eyes or even noticing that her hood had fallen down and revealed her blonde ponytail. She didn't stop to take note of anything until Sara had grabbed her by her shoulders.

"He's fine, he's gonna be fine." She said gently to the girl before her who looked as if she could break down crying at any moment. "He just needs to rest," she said as the girl finally met her eyes.

Despite the eye-mask Sara could still see the girl's face now that her hood was down, and she felt her own breath hitch in her throat. The girl's blonde hair, it was tied back but Sara could still see the waves in it, the trace amounts of frizz the girl had clearly tried to brush away, not at all unlike her own hair. She could see her face, could see the light freckles that she herself had in childhood. This girl looked so much like her and yet something was different. The girl's jaw was slightly different, yet still familiar. With almost shaky hands Sara reached up and gently slid off the girl's eye-mask, not that she couldn't see her piercing blue eyes already.

Eyes that she knows don't belong to herself.

"You ok there Canary?" It was Len's voice that cut through the silence of the back room, but Sara didn't even hear him at first. "Sara," Len snapped this time and finally Sara looked up, with a look of something that if Len didn't know her better he would've considered fear. But when she put her hands back on the teenager's shoulders and turn her around Len found himself face to face with the spitting image of what he would've guessed a younger Sara Lance to look like.  
.  
.  
.

"So have you time traveled before?" Len asked later, although Sara wasn't sure how much later. All she knew was that at this point Don was still unconscious, Blue Bird, who had finally admitted that her real name is Aurora, was sitting by his side, and Dawn and Cisco were down in the pipeline securing this Grundy fellow.

"And changed my name?" Sara asked rhetorically but Len merely shrugged.

"You never know," he said but Sara just shook her head, they both knew exactly who Aurora really is. "So whose the lucky guy?" He asked,

"Like I-" Sara began but she stopped when she looked Len in the eyes, finally placing where it was that she had seen Aurora's eyes before. "Like I know?" She finished, much less annoyed than she had originally intended.

Len didn't comment on the fact that her fiery voice suddenly sounded as though each word was caught in her throat. He kept one eye on the teenage girl sitting at the bedside of who was obviously her boyfriend, her hand running through his dark brown hair. With a sigh he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and headed for the back of the lab, hesitant as he is to admit it he saw Aurora's eyes as well, and he's seen his own reflection enough times to know where she got them.

When he reached her she looked up, a look of fear on her face, and that made his gut twist. She was the spitting image of Sara for sure, but he could still see subtle differences. Her eyes, the shape of her face, and few other things that he couldn't quite place but he knew were from him. Without saying a word he pulled a chair up along side her, and damn he could practically hear her heart pounding in her chest.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of me?" He asked, terrified as she looked it wasn't the same look Lisa used to give their father and that was the only thing keeping him from running back to the time ship.

"What?" She asked, seeming genuinely confused, he took that as a good sign.

"You clearly didn't want us knowing who you are, and now you're looking at me like I'm going to punish you" he hated that he said it, but her eyes widened as she got what he meant, and that made him feel a little better.

"No!" She all but shouted, waving her hands frantically in front of her. "No you would never, have never, even when I give you reason to." She assured him and he couldn't help the small sigh of relief that escaped his mouth.

"No it's just… I wasn't… well you know you never planned on having kids." She admitted and Len felt his eyes widen just a little as the realization struck him. Not only was he now sure that this girl was his future daughter, but she was actually afraid that now that he knew, he'd stop her from ever existing.

"I don't hurt you?" He asked again and she frantically shook her head,

"No," she replied hastily and he gave her a satisfied grin.

"I never thought I would've named my daughter after a Disney Princess," he mused and she exhaled a sigh of relief as she laughed.

"That's just a coincidence," she assured him, "No one ever calls me by my full name." she said,

"What do we call you?" He asked, surprising himself a little when he said "we" as opposed to "they".

"What's short for Aurora?" She asked knowingly and Len said nothing, he knew the answer.

Rory.

He and Sara named their daughter after Mick.

Briefly he wondered who convinced who that was a good idea, or whose idea it was in the first place. But his thoughts were interrupted when the unconscious speedster finally started to stir.

"Hey Babe," he said groggily with that dorky smile of Barry's plastered along his face.

"Careful Allen," Len found himself saying in warning tone, hand going to his cold gun as he stood up and watched the caramel skinned boy go almost white as a sheet.

Len smirked, satisfied by this reaction, and headed away to leave the two alone.  
.  
.  
.

"Hey," Sara said later, well technically the next day since it was two a.m., when she found Len sitting by himself in the bridge. He looked over his shoulder at the sound of her voice.

"Hey," he said and considering his voice wasn't hostile she made her way over and took not the seat next to him but the one next to that. They had hardly said two words to each other since leaving STAR labs, and they definitely didn't say anything about it to Rip or the team. Once she sat down she didn't say anything, not at first anyway. She just took a long moment to study him, his face was an emotionless mask like always but it was clear that he was lost deep in thought.

"You doing ok?" She finally asked and he sighed,

"My daughter is dating the son of Barry Allen, how do you think I'm doing?" He asked and Sara chuckled.

"So what?" She asked, "We know she belongs to both of us, she told you that she wasn't planned, and we know that she's fourteen or fifteen years old in 2033."

"Meaning that if we assume Rip brings us back to 2016, it'll only be a year or two before I knock you up." He finished and upon hearing it put so bluntly they both quickly grew very uncomfortable with the idea. Sure they'd flirted back and forth, but neither of them had ever really considered the other could become more than a close friend, maybe a crush.

"Maybe not," She said and Len just raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean saying knocked up makes it sound like we got drunk or bored one night and just hooked up for the fun of it. But maybe by the time this is over you and me…" she trailed off, half because the ending of her sentence scared her and half because she could tell it scared him.

"Rip may have a habit of lying, but one thing out of his mouth that I believe is that time wants some things to happen." Len began, "So why don't we say this, let's just put it out of our minds for awhile and if three years after this mission ends rolls around and we haven't been forced to already we'll pick up this conversation." He suggested and Sara could help but smile slightly at his plan, something that surprised her.

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed as she got up, "You coming to bed?" She asked and again he raised a questioning eyebrow at her, she rolled her eyes in response. "Not with me," she clarified and he smirked, pleased to have gotten a rise out of her.

"In a little bit," he promised and satisfied with that answer she walked off, leaving Len to do some quick mental math.

"Gideon," he finally called out,

"Yes Mr. Snart?" The electronic voice rang in response.

"Can you keep an active watch out for any signs of Barry Allen from now on?" He questioned, much as he hates the kid he can see that he would make a great father someday, and he no doubt had for the time he spent with his children before disappearing into the time stream.

"Of course Mr. Snart," Gideon replied and Len sighed a sigh of relief. He got up to go but quickly stopped.

"And Gideon?" He added

"Yes Mr. Snart?"

"Can we just keep this between us?" He asked; he couldn't let anyone know that he was searching for the future and missing version of his worst enemy.

"So long as it does not conflict with missions to hunt Vandal Savage or place any member of the team in harms way." The computer replied,

"Fair enough," Len agreed and with that done he headed off to his room.


	2. Still Here

They had been in the temporal zone when something crashed into the Waverider. At first the team had, understandably, thought they were being attacked. But then something flew by the window only to do so again a few seconds later. That was when Rip realized it wasn't an attacker that had hit them, but rather an out of control jump ship. He assumed some poor, lost, idiotic, time master recruit, was piloting and unless they helped him the poor sap would likely never find his way home. Of course there was risk in that, the recruit could easily turn them over to the Time Master's upon being returned to his own time. But he had damaged their navigation systems so it's not like they could go anywhere before making repairs, and if they didn't pull the moron's ship onto their own who knows how much damage he might do.

So that's what they did, and the entire team gathered in the cargo bay once it was done so that they could see exactly what it was they were dealing with. But the moment they got there Rip knew this was going to be a decision he would quickly regret.

He recognized that jump ship, he knew exactly what ship it had come from. What confused him was that no person who had ever piloted it, to his knowledge, had ever reported crashing into the Waverider in the temporal zone. He was hoping that maybe perhaps a past pilot had simply left that detail out of the report, but when the hatch to the ship opened his heart sank; he had no such luck.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." He said when he saw the occupants emerge from the small ship; he should've known this would happen. There were three passengers, all of them about the age of sixteen. There were two girls and one boy; and none of them had any business being here.

Sara and Leonard exchanged worried glances when the three teenagers came climbing out of their jump ship. They had met these teenagers before when previously hiding out in 2033 Keystone City. They wouldn't be so worried if it were only Don and Dawn West-Allen that had come out of the ship, but it wasn't. It was the two of them and Don's girlfriend, Aurora Snart.

"What," Rip began sternly, eyeing the three teenagers before him, "Are the three of you doing here?" He demanded,

"Wait, you know them?" Jax questioned; in hindsight Rip probably should've acted as though he didn't.

"More or less," he replied, not once taking his gaze off the teens.

"It was my fault," One of the girl's, the one with tan colored skin that matched that of the boy's, spoke up guiltily. "We kind of stole your time radar and-"

"You what?!" Rip demanded

"So you do know them?" Stein asked; the entire team knew that if Rip could avoid it he wouldn't tell them who these kids are so they needed to make sure that he couldn't avoid it.

Rip looked back at Martin, cast a quick glance at the resident crook and assassin, and then looked around the rest of his team who were all fixing him with hard glares.

"It is for the best that-"

"We already know," It was Snart's voice the interrupted Rip and directed the attention of the rest of the team, plus their three guests, over to him. "You can spare us your lies Rip, we already know." He continued,

"You… how?!" The captain demanded exasperatedly, Len smirked at his reaction while Sara was watching the exchange with interest.

"When we hid out in Keystone in 2033, you didn't really expect me not to check out the next town over, did you?" He questioned and Rip looked like he was mentally debating between chewing out Snart for disobeying orders, or chewing out himself for actually thinking his entire team had followed the rules they set on visiting the future.

"Who knows what? What's going on?" Ray questioned and Rip sighed before turning back to the three teenagers, who all looked like they wanted to disappear at this point. But he decided to ignore both them and Ray and instead turned back to Leonard.

"Do you realize what you could've done timeline?" He demanded,

"She's still here isn't she?" He asked; Rip went silent.

Maybe it was the way he said it, or maybe it was even just that he said it at all, but he it dawned only then on Sara that he's right. Aurora is still here; a little older since they last saw her and that only proves that their knowledge of her existences didn't change anything. She will still be born, Sara Lance and Leonard Snart will still have a baby together, and somehow the idea didn't completely terrify her in this moment.

"Seriously, what is going on?" Kendra finally demanded and Snart looked to Sara as if to ask if she wanted to tell them, her eyes confirmed that she had no qualms about it.

"When we hid out in Keystone, Canary and I took a little detour to Central," He began before pointing to each of the kids one by one. "Don Allen, Dawn Allen." Nobody missed the roll of his eyes at the similar names, "Aurora Snart," he concluded, now everyone was looking with wide eyes between the blonde teenager and their ice-cold teammate.

"Whose-?"

"Take one look at her and see if you can guess," Sara cut Jax off, and now that the others were all looking to her and it finally clicked.

"And here I thought I didn't miss anything good," Mick laughed before leaving the cargo bay, the rest of the team just stood there in stunned silence.

"Back to the matter at hand," Rip said awkwardly, turning back to the three teenagers who all looked to be conveying varying degrees of guilt. "The three of you stole my temporal radar?" He demanded,

"Technically we stole it from your future self," Aurora attempted but Rip only hardened his gaze.

"So your daughter's a criminal? Big surprise," Ray commented, which turned out to be a very bad idea.

Len didn't even think about it, actually scratch that, he thought it through completely but would deny such a fact later on. Palmer called his kid a criminal. Doesn't matter if he was suggesting she takes after him or even if he could turn out to be right, no one calls his kid a criminal. So he envisioned it in his mind before following through with the very carefully thought out action of turning on his heel and ramming his fist hard into Raymond's left eye.

Everyone turned to stare at him as Ray stumbled back, and although it went mostly unnoticed Sara's hands flew to cover her mouth, because she knew why he had done that.

"Ok, enough!" Rip finally shouted, "Kendra, take Dr. Palmer to the med bay. Mr. Jackson and Professor Stein go… go see about repairs, and you three get in the jump ship that you also stole and go home!" He ordered the teens who had caused all this to begin with.

"Sure, teach us how to drive it." Aurora bargained with a smirk that she so clearly had inherited from her father.

Now obviously Rip could tell that there is a very good reason none of the three knows how to drive the jump ship, and he intended to keep it that way.

"New plan, we'll drop you off where you came from." He decided before turning to Sara and Snart, the only other two left in the cargo bay at this point. "Until then you're in charge of them," He instructed and they both looked like they wanted to argue but also knew that doing so would be futile; one of the kids is theirs after all.

"So…" Len drawled once Rip was gone, leaving him and Sara alone in the cargo bay with their future daughter and her friends. "You three stole a temporal radar, and a jump ship." He stated before deciding to focus solely on his daughter. "What do I usually do in a situation like this Rory?" He asked of her, "And don't lie to me just to get out of trouble." He warned and she chuckled nervously.

"Kind of depends," she admitted, "Usually you punish me but when it's Rip you'll sometimes just act like you're mad until he leaves and then you give me a high five." She told him and he had to chuckle at that, it certainly sounds like something he would do.

"How about you guys just tell us why you stole the radar and jump ship in the first place?" Sara suggested, she could tell that Snart wanted to let the three off the hook as much as she did; but Rip would obviously notice them wandering around on their own and probably throw an even bigger fit. So if they're all stuck together in here they may as well get some answers.

At the question, the twins looked to the ground guiltily while Rory looked at them sympathetically before turning her attention to the past versions of her parents.

"We were using the scanner to look for signs of their dad," she admitted, sparking both Sara and Len's interests. "We took one of Rip's old scanners and for the last few months we've been trying to find their dad with it. It picked up a signal in the temporal zone so we hijacked the jump ship and came looking, unfortunately none of us know how to drive it and it's harder than video games." She admitted; upon hearing the explanation Sara got up and headed for the damaged jump ship, wanting to take a look at where the kids had been going.

"Guys," she said sadly once she got her look, the three turned and she frowned. "This is the coordinates of the Waverider, you tracked us." She announced and simultaneously all three teens sighed.

"We're also not great at reading the scanner," Don confessed.  
.  
.  
.

"Are we seriously just ignoring the fact that in the future Sara and Snart have a kid together?" Jax questioned as he and Stein worked on repairs to the navigation systems while Mick sat nearby.

"You two are surprised that they hooked up?" Mick asked but the looks he got in response were all the confirmation he needed. "I just can't believe they named her after a Disney princess," he muttered.

"I once had a colleague named Aurora," Stein began, "We always shortened her name to Rory." Mick started choking on the water he was drinking, serves him right for not helping with repairs.

"Yeah, that sounds more like the two of them," Jax said as he finished with the last of what he was doing and the navigation came back online, with an announcement fro Gideon of course.

"Excellent, now we'll head to 2034 and-"Rip began, coming from his office when he was abruptly cut off.

"Change of plans," Snart said as he came into the bridge, alone. "Gideon," he called, ignoring Rip's stuttering protests.

"Yes Mr. Snart?" The AI chirped in reply.

"Remember when I asked you to keep a watch out for Barry Allen?" He asked, now the others were looking at him in surprise.

"Yes," Gideon replied,

"Any luck?" He questioned, completely ignoring the stares of the others.

"I'm afraid I have not been able to locate Mr. Allen in any time that does not match up with his own timeline." Len cursed under his breath at Gideon's reply, not that he hadn't been expecting it.

From what he gathered in the cargo bay, Aurora and the Allen kid's are pretty smart but Rip had shielded them from his future tech every time he's visited throughout their lives. Apparently they stole the scanner on his last visit and the jump ship wasn't so much stolen as it was damaged. From what they said Rip would be having issues with it at some point and bring it to Jax in 2034 to fix, where the kids would steal it before the time master could come back for it. They thought they had picked up a trace of Allen; but thanks to Rip being so careful to keep future tech away from them they had no idea what they were looking at or even looking for on the scanner. Basically they went after the first thing that showed up; they're lucky it ended up being the Waverider.

"Why did you ask Gideon to look out for that kid?" Mick questioned and his partner sighed, clearly not wanting to go through this right now.

"According to those three he disappears into the time stream in 2024, leaving them without their father." He admitted and a heavy silence descended upon the room.

"Why do you care?" Mick finally asked, "We hate that kid," he reminded his partner and something in Snart's eyes seemed to agree with that, but there was something else that didn't.

"Maybe, but as much as I hate him I'll admit that he'll make a halfway decent father someday, his kids don't deserve to have him disappear forever." He said and while Mick thought that over Jax looked over to Rip.

"Why don't we just go to 2024 and stop Barry from disappearing to begin with?" He asked,

"We can't," Rip admitted,

"Why not?" Stein questioned seriously, Barry Allen is a good man and a friend of his, not to mention that without him it's likely that he and Ronald never would've gained control over their powers and would still be wandering around under a bridge as a crazy hermit.

"Because…" Rip sighed; the entire timeline was truly going to implode one of these days. "Because you can't come in contact with your past selves," he said, "I've heard about the battle that goes on between The Flash and The Reverse Flash that night in 2024; and all of you are present." He explained, "So the best we can do is keep a watch out for the Barry Allen that will disappear that night, and until then those children HAVE to go home." He continued before turning on his heel and looking Snart in the eye. "Where are they?" He questioned,

"Still with Sara in the cargo bay."  
.  
.  
.

Sara was watching from the corner of the cargo bay; Dawn had taken the news of the scanner not picking up what they thought it did the hardest. Her brother was currently trying to comfort her, though it was painfully obvious that the news came at a stab to his heart too. Rory had tried to help but it looked like she had basically given up and was now sitting not far from Sara along the back wall.

"Come on," Sara said to her future daughter, "Let's give them a minute," she instructed, cocking her head towards the door. Rory nodded and followed her out of the cargo bay, not that they went more than a few steps down the hall.

For a moment the two of them just stood there in silence. Rory very interested in the ground while Sara looked her over. Of course she had committed Rory's appearance to memory back in 2033, but it had been a year for the girl and a few things had changed. Her hair was a bit longer, and some of her freckles had faded, but she was still very clearly the daughter of Sara Lance and Leonard Snart.

"So," Sara finally began, "You steal my Bo Staff too?" She asked, remembering how the last time she saw Rory it had been her weapon she was fighting with.

"No," Rory laughed, "You gave it to me when I started protecting Central City, by that time it's your old weapon." She explained and Sara nodded, "Thanks, by the way."

"I'm not the one you need to be thanking for that staff," Sara began but she stopped when her future daughter began laughing.

"Not that," she insisted, "I wasn't a planned kid, you found out about me and could've stopped me from ever existing but like dad said, I'm still here." She said and Sara smirked as she took half a step closer to Rory.

"Don't thank me yet, or your father for that matter." She warned, somewhat surprised that it didn't faze her too much when she verbally referred to Snart as the father of her future child. "Things can still go wrong, and I still doubt you're going to exactly be a planned kid." She reached out a hand and touched Rory's cheek, which seemed to be taking the girl by surprise. "But you are a pretty great kid," she said and Rory laughed, not yet pulling out of Sara's touch.

"You say that now but once you get to know me you'll take it back." She warned and Sara laughed,

"I'll take my chances," she assured before she gave her daughter a light kiss on the forehead.  
.  
.  
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It was hours later, after they made their quick stop in 2034 and Rip returned the three teenagers home (after which he came back to the ship grumbling about the future versions of Len and Mick having laughed in his face), that Sara opened the door to Len's room and found him inside.

"I think it's time we picked up that conversation," she said, letting herself in.

"I thought the agreement was we would pick it up in three years, unless we were forced to sooner?" He half asked, half stated. He knew she was right of course, but he isn't good with feelings and so avoiding them is his default defense mechanism.

"You don't think Rory showing back up is force enough?" Sara asked, coming and sitting next to him on the bed; not that he looked up from his work on his cold gun.

"It's not exactly what I had in mind," He drawled, Sara didn't need to ask what he thought would be the force behind this conversation.

"Well you said it yourself, she's still here." She said and Len hummed in thought before finally turning his attention off of his gun and over to Sara.

"Do you want her?" He asked; she scoffed.

"What kind of a question is that?" She asked,

"A straightforward one," He replied and so she locked eyes with him.

"Yes," she admitted.

Len looked back at his gun, the gears turning in his head as he processed the information from Sara.

"But not like this," she continued and that got him to look at her. "I want her, but I don't want her to exist solely because we know she will and so we decide to let her." She continued and he nodded before discarding his gun completely.

"Well first things first," he began, "First we finish the mission." He said and Sara nodded her agreement.

"And then?" She asked and he sighed.

"And then we see where we are," he decided and she nodded, she then moved to get up from the bed but he grabbed her hand and gently halted her. "I hope you're right," he told her; she furrowed her brow in confusion so he figured he had better explain. "When you said that maybe Rory doesn't only exist because you and I got board one night and hooked up for the fun of it, that maybe be the end of this you and I…" He trailed off, but only for a moment before Sara was leaning closer to him and capturing his lips with her own.

It was a short, and mostly one-sided kiss thanks to his surprise. She pulled away, and he pulled her back. This second kiss was hot and passionate; something neither of them had felt very recently.

"So do we have a deal?" He asked her, as they pulled apart for the second time. "No worrying about whether or not Rory comes along, we'll just do what we want to do for now?" He asked and Sara nodded in agreement.

"Deal," she said and kissed him again.


End file.
